Staten Island Advance/Bill LyonsA man lights fireworks at Gaynor Street and Herrick Avenue in Charleston on the Fourth of July last year.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The skies over Staten Island have been largely free of fireworks these past few days, and police are hoping those quiet nights mean borough residents have gotten the message -- on the Fourth of July, leave the pyrotechnics displays to the professionals.

Even so, the NYPD will once again be out in "full force" for the Fourth this year, seizing fireworks, patrolling trouble spots and taking tips by phone and by e-mail from concerned neighbors, said Assistant Chief Stephen Paragallo, the NYPD's borough commander.

That means deploying more than 150 cops split into 16 separate teams on the Fourth to cover the borough's hot spots.

"They're dangerous. They're explosives. They're low-level explosives and some of them are high-level explosives," Paragallo said.

So far, police have made 22 fireworks arrests on Staten Island -- roughly half of whom were off-Islanders driving through the borough on their way home with fireworks bought out of state.

And, as in previous years, police have been dropping in on past trouble spots, warning residents that illegal fireworks displays won't be tolerated this year.

"We visit all the people we've locked up in the past, and all the people we've had problems with in the past at certain locations," Paragallo said. In many cases, he said, "they realize that we're going to be out there, and we're going to be taking enforcement action, and they'd rather go away for the weekend."

As in previous years, the NYPD has also set up a fireworks hotline on Staten Island -- tipsters can call 718-677-2219, or e-mail sifireworkshotline@gmail.com.

Police on Staten Island started cracking down on illegal fireworks displays starting in 2006, after Island residents complained of "war zone" conditions in 2004 and 2005, when many streets throughout the borough turned into fireworks free-for-alls.

Last year, police tallied 254 fireworks confiscations across the Island on the Fourth -- nearly five times the 53 confiscations of 2008 -- issued 121 criminal summonses and made two felony arrests.

And unlike 2005, when angry callers clogged the phone banks of the Advance with complaints of fireworks blowing up outside their windows, last year only one person called to lodge a complaint.

In past years, the Island saw the fireworks start in the afternoon, then peak after the sun went down. Last year, Paragallo recounted, the afternoon fireworks had tapered off, leaving a two-hour block of heavy usage, then relative quiet.

The enforcement efforts have also brought their share of criticism, with borough residents saying fireworks displays on their blocks are handled responsibly.

"I have mixed feelings about the New York laws," said William A. Weimer, the vice president of Phantom Fireworks, which has stores in Pennsylvania.

On the one hand, he says, he can understand why densely populated areas like Manhattan might be inappropriate for amateur fire displays. But in spread-out, more suburban neighborhoods, he said, fireworks should be allowed "with appropriate regulation, and with appropriate, responsible, sober adult supervision."

"It's all a matter of elbow room. That's what you need," Weimer said.

Officers from the NYPD and New Jersey police departments have routinely staked out their stores in years past, he said, keeping track of customers who buy fireworks with out-of-state license plates.

"They've also been pretty offensive about it," he said. "We have had marked New York and New Jersey cars in our parking lots. We have had unmarked cars when we've asked them to leave."

He added, "I believe that the New York authorities have much bigger fish to fry."

Regarding critics of the fireworks crackdown, Paragallo said, "We don't interpret the law. We enforce the law. Fireworks are illegal in New York City. So you're violating the law when you set off a firework."